WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL & BRIAN BLADE

They have been playing together for quite some time already, in such formations as the trio with Marc Johnson and the group with Norwegian female vocalist Rebekka Bakken, but since the 2006 Jazz Baltica Festival guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and drummer Brian Blade have also been performing as a duo. Blade has been making a name for himself in recent years as the steady drummer in the Wayne Shorter Quartet, but also in stints with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Muthspiel, ‘a shining light of the contemporary jazz-guitar generation’ (The New Yorker), has more than two dozen CDs to his name as bandleader and the list of artists with whom he has worked include: Gary Burton, Paul Motian, Dave Liebman and the Vienna Art Orchestra.